Words To Avoid Like The Plague When You’re Selling: “Obviously”

To you maybe but not to me and because I didn’t think it was obvious and you said it was then does that make me thick? Because I just didn’t see it!

You need to be very careful if you use the term “obviously” in your selling as it can be one of the most condescending and patronising phrases to use.

According to most dictionarys the adjective for “obviously” goes along the lines of:

“easily seen, recognised, or understood, evident”

Now we all know that in selling you should never assume! So why would you assume that your prospect or client would see the same thing as you, or understand the same thing as you or recognise something the same way that you do?

And by using the term you are saying that THEY SHOULD have seen the same thing, or understood the same thing or recognised the same thing. But what if they don’t?

Let me tell you that the term “obviously” it’s fraught with danger if you use it. Not only for the reasons stated above but if you get the tonality wrong it will magnify the impact of using the term even further by about a thousand!

Hi! I'm the founder and Managing Director of MTD Sales Training - we offer sales training solutions for companies both large and small. I'm blessed to work with 25 of the most talented trainers in the UK....well, I did recruit them! ;-)
Today, we've delivered training in over 23 countries to over 2,500 different organisations and 50,000 staff.
Our clients include Xerox, Friends Provident, Starbucks, Taylor Wimpey, CISCO, Allianz and Lloyds TSB to name but a few.